Selena: The Black Hand
by Orca.dancer.3
Summary: More than anything else she had ever wanted, Selena just wanted to be free. To not have to endure the other villagers' intolerance for her abnormalities. And when a mysterious stranger offers her a way out she jumps at the chance. But will her choice ultimately bring her happiness?
1. Chapter 1: A painful beginning

Hi guys! This is my first fanfic. (don't be afraid to heckle, I like criticism when writing)

**THE REST OF THE STORY IS NOT** (should not be)** AS FLUFFY AND GIRLIE AS THIS CHAPTER IS!** I just thought I'd put in a little intro to the story. If you don't think it works just tell me.

Disclaimer: The characters and settings in this story were created and belong to the fantastic Christopher Paolini (except the ones you've never heard of before, they're mine :D ) Please R&R!

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The whole village seemed to be holding its breath. Waiting for the news; good or bad. Vale sat at the only desk in the house trying to take his mind off it by reading. It wasn't working. He looked around the apartment at his father who was sat across the room, his face buried in his hands. Another one of his aunts screams tore through the house again and the healer's assistant came rushing out of the room.

"… and some more water, Gertrude." Said Hara, the village's healer. Dan stood up.

"How goes it?" he asked her hurriedly.

Gertrude looked at him with a drained expression. "She's not doing as well as she did with Garrow. It has taken longer than we thought it would and she's getting tired. We need to deliver it soon or they might-"

"Gertrude!"

She jumped and ran to fetch the water then scarpered back into the room. She placed the bowl by Mira's exhausted face.

"It's looking better now but you have to keep going, I can't do it for you."

Mira tried to sit up a little straighter with the help of her husband, Cadoc. Her face was set. Another shot of pain coursed through her side as she gave one final try.

A cry escaped her lips before she could stop it and then the pain vanished.

"It's a girl. You did it. It's a girl."

Tears streamed down her face as Hara handed her her daughter. The little girl looked up at her mother with unusual focus for a baby and Mira gazed back drinking in her daughter's beautiful face and short dark hair.

"What are you going to call her?" Hara asked Cadoc.

"I'm not sure. We had a boy's name picked out but we couldn't decide on one for a girl."

"Selena." Said Mira. "Her name is Selena."


	2. Chapter 2: Child's play

Though she was a lovely girl, well mannered, polite and witty, Selena had few friends in the village. The other children disliked her for many reasons such as jealousy and ignorance. They simply did not understand her, so they feared her.

Selena knew why they didn't like her but she made no effort to change; she had a queer childhood. She was very rational and mature for a five year old, able to solve arguments and problems without help. By the time she was six she was able to read whole books and write all by herself. She could count and understood the different values of coins. But this only added to her remarkable life. The real mysteries were just that; mysteries. She could make fierce animals calm down and go away. She could always tell when people where lying. And, strangest of all, once when the children had gone to the smith's house for a party and she had stayed at home, she could hear the mean things they said about her in her head as they said them.

Her parents discouraged this strangeness though they loved her dearly and urged their daughter to make some friends her own age, to which she responded,

"But ma, they are spiteful and cruel to anything they do not understand and will not take the time to learn. They fritter away their hours on meaning less tasks and do not take responsibilities in their homes. I do not think that they would be good influences on me and so I shall wait until they grow up. Then I shall be happy to make friends with them."

She did like to have fun as the other children did, but she preferred to do it alone. She would climb trees, splash in streams and come home filthy at the end of the day just like them. But where they would play together, she preferred to imagine her companions. As she said, imaginary friends are better than real ones because they are not mean, you do not argue with them and they love the things that you love.

When she was not by herself or being taught by her mother, Selena liked to be with her brother, Garrow. Garrow was three years older than she was and had many friends in the village but never minded taking the time to be with his sister.

On one of these days where Selena was spending time with her brother the two were traversing the Spine pretending to be the legendary explorers, Milo and Sashta.

"Look, Sash, the trail of the infamous green hoofed horse!" said Garrow to his sister. "They say he can split himself in half to confuse those who would hunt him and lives in a secret cave. They also say that he will grant one wish to any who can find him. What do you say? Should we follow it?"

She reached the spot where he was crouched and stood there panting. "I'll find him if he grants me longer legs. I don't think my body can take all this climbing." She joked.

He smiled. "I could carry you back home if you're tired." He offered.

She snorted. "Let's go find this mystical horse, Milo, before the spring comes."

"Right you are, Sashta." He said as the two started off along the trail.

After a while the tracks they were following split and carried on in different directions. Selena looked at her brother in puzzlement. "I thought you were just joking about the green hoofed horse. Is he real?"

Garrow just stared at the tracks in confusion. "I was just joking but I can't see another explanation that fits. The horse was just one of those tales that traders tell the kids in villages as scary stories, I didn't actually realise that this one was true."

Selena could see the starts of a plan coming together. "Right," she said, "you follow that half of the trail and I'll follow this half and if either of us finds anything we'll come back and get the other. If not we'll meet back here in a couple of hours. Agreed?"

Garrow nodded and the two split up. Selena followed the two hoof prints up, higher, into the mountains. After she had been walking for an hour she stopped and glanced back down the trail. It would probably take her longer to get back down than it had to get her up here, as she was so tired, so she decided to abandon the mysterious trail and head back down to her brother. As she turned around the rocks shifted under her feet and she felt herself falling.

A shriek escaped from her mouth as she looked down into a dark abyss. Her hair snagged on a rock as she fell, pulling some out, and an arm descended from above her and grasped her hand. As the stranger pulled her out she noticed a glow from between their hands. He set her down on the solid mountain floor and looked at her with a curious expression.

"What is your name, child?" he asked.

She looked up at his face and was so shocked that she nearly didn't answer. "Selena. Selena Mirasdaughter."

"Well, Selena Mirasdaughter, what were you doing all the way up in the mountains on your own?"

"I wasn't alone. Myself and my brother were tracking a queer horse when we split up."

"Well then," he said, standing up, "I think you better run back to him now, hmm? These mountains are not safe for one as young as yourself."

"Yes. I shall. Thank you." she said as she began to run back down the mountain. What an odd man, she thought. Why was he alone up in the mountains and why did he save me like that?

As she ran she was nearly knocked over by a series of ear splitting thuds. The whole air seemed to vibrate with the force. Thunder? No, the weather had been calm for weeks. As they diminished into the afternoon sky Selena straightened up and continued running down to her brother.

"Selena! There you are where have you been? Are you alright?" shouted Garrow from the fork in the trail.

"I don't know." She replied.

"What happened?" he asked. And so, as they set off, Selena told him all about her fall and her rescue by the strange man with the different coloured eyes.


	3. Chapter 3: The 1st uncomfortable dinner

That evening the little family were gathered around the table in silence. Cadoc eventually broke the silence.

"So what did you two get up to today? Did you go up into the mountains?"

"Yes." Said Garrow. "We were exploring until, erm…"

"Until we got hungry and came home." Finished Selena.

Mira and Cadoc looked at each other. "But, if you were hungry why didn't you say something when you got back? It was at least two hours before we ate. Are you sure you came back because you were hungry?"

"Well, we were hungry," said Garrow, "Until we found some bushes with some berries on on our way back. Then we weren't hungry anymore but we had already started back so we came home."

Cadoc looked his children in the face with a stern gaze. "You found some berry bushes in early summer? Are you sure that you two are telling us the truth? You know that lies aren't allowed in this house."

"We would much rather you tell us what happened, even if it was wrong, than have you lie to us." Said Mira gently. "What really happened?"

"It was my fault, really." Said Garrow, shamefaced. "I wanted to explore a new part of the mountain so I made up a story about some horse prints I found."

"No, it was my fault. When we came to a fork in the path where the trail was I suggested that we each take a route and come back if we found anything."

"You split up? What were you thinking? Those mountains are dangerous enough for grown-ups and you're barely children. Who knows who could be up there?"

"Not everyone we don't know is bad, father! There are some truly selfless people out there."

Mira looked startled. "Who, Selena? What happened?"

Selena shifted on her seat. "Well, when I was on my own I realised it was time to head back to meet Garrow so I turned round to leave and slipped into a hole. I would have fallen right through the mountain if someone hadn't caught me and pulled me out."

"Someone pulled you out?" asked her mother.

"Yes. I was so shocked by the fall that I flung my arms up in the air and he grabbed me with one of his hands and pulled me out."

"He pulled you out with one hand?" asked Cadoc, astonishment clear in his voice. "This man must have unnatural strength, Selena isn't light. Did he tell you who he was?"

"No." she said, thinking back. "He just asked me why I was on my own on the mountain and when I told him that I was with my brother he said that I should go back and find him."

"Well, Selena, you are very fortunate that this man was close by. Very fortunate. You could have been killed, do you realise that? Now I don't want either of you going up into the Spine for a while. No arguments. Now, if you're both finished, I want you to go up to your rooms and get some sleep; I'll need both of you to help out on the farm this week, I've just got too many jobs for one person. Good night."

"Good night, father, mother." They said and hurried out of the kitchen. As Garrow stared to climb the stairs, Selena hung back and pressed her ear gently to the door.

"… could have been anyone, Mira, I don't like it. Why would he just pull her out and tell her to go home? It doesn't fit."

"Maybe he was just a nice person. Perhaps he has children of his own and wouldn't want that to happen to anyone else's children."

"Perhaps, but that doesn't explain how she didn't notice he was there until he saved her. Selena is a sharp girl, she picks up on things, I can't imagine her not seeing him unless he was hiding. That's what worries me. Why would a man as strong and stealthy as that have to hide from a ten year old. He was watching her, I'm sure of it and I'm not having either of them up those mountains until he's gone."

"Cadoc, do you think he knows what she can do?"

"I'm sure of it."


	4. Chapter 4: What is this?

**Hi guys, thanks for sticking with the story so far. This is my first fanfic, sorry it's a little slow but I need to map out my character's beginning for later on in the story. Please review, criticism welcome. More chapters (hopefully) on the way soon.**

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Selena lay awake that night thinking about what her father had said about that man knowing what she could do. But what could she do? She didn't even know herself what she could do. She tried to think about what she did every time something happened. Only one thing fit every time; that little pool in the back of her mind. That must be it.

She wondered to herself if this was something she could control so she sat up in her bed and cast her thoughts out for something to test it on. They landed, as they so often did, on roses, her favourite flower. She was fascinated by how such a tiny bud could explode into such a beautiful and complex flower. But how to turn it into a test?

Her stomach grumbled making her jump. She had not finished her dinner and was regretting it now. Maybe she should go down to the pantry and make herself something to eat. Later, she thought, try the test first.

She thought for what seemed like an age wondering what she could do. _I know how to turn it into a test_, she thought, _I'll _make_ a rose_. She had never tried to make anything before so she was a little unsure as to what she should do and being hungry did nothing to speed up her thoughts. So she did what she felt was right. She gingerly dipped into the little pool in her mind and immersed herself in it and thought of nothing but the rose she wanted.

It was a strange feeling as though all of her energy was being pulled out of her body and into the palm of her hand. After a few moments there was a perfect rose, lilac in the moon light, nestled into the palm of her hand.

She looked at it for a moment in wonder before a wave of exhaustion overcame her and she tumbled back onto her bed, sound asleep.

When she awoke in the morning she took a moment to try to remember everything that had happened the day before. She sat up in her bed and looked at the purple rose, still in her hand.

Her stomach growled, she felt as though she had not eaten for days. _Breakfast first,_ she thought, _thinking later_. As she ambled through the house, still half asleep, her mind wandered to the man on the mountain. How could he have known what she could do? Was he a sorcerer and had used his mind to find her? The thought scared her and a new question came into her head; what if she was a sorcerer? Well, maybe not a sorcerer but one thing was certain, she defiantly had magic.

She opened the pantry door and gasped in shock. Along the walls were dozens of roses tucked into every jar and behind every package of meat. How had she done that? She had only wanted to make one. Her stomach growled again. Ah, of course, she must have been thinking about food last night when she had made the flower.

A floor board creaked upstairs as one of her parents walked across the landing. Quick, she thought, I need to get rid of these flowers before they see.

Although her parents did not punish her abnormal behaviour it was not encouraged and Selena was scared that dozens of purple roses in the pantry might raise awkward questions. As quickly and as quietly as she could she gathered up the roses into an empty grain sack just as her mother came through the door.

"Selena, what are you doing in here with that sack?"

"I was hungry so I wanted to make some bread so I took a bag of flour from the store and brought it in here."

"Selena, that store is for winter, you mustn't use it."

"I'm sorry, mother, I'll go and put back the sack."

Her mother yawned. "I think that's a good idea. Besides, there's still some flour in the jar in the kitchen, when you get back you can help me make some out of that."

"Ok, I will." She said, breathing a sigh of relief at her escape with the flowers. As she got to the store shed she paused and wondered what to do. She couldn't put the flowers in there, someone might find them. So she decided to hide them at the foot of the mountains, her parents never went up there and her and her brother were banned so no one would find them.

As she reached a clump of bushes and started to hide the sack a cough startled her and she whirled around to face that man.

"What are you doing, Selena?" he asked, gazing at the bag in her hands.

A small mountain of questions of her own appeared in her mind. "How did you know what I can do?"

He stared hard into her face. "What can you do?" he asked, smiling.

"I don't know. I think it's magic but it's not very good. Can you teach me?"

"I could." He said. "But you would have to let me teach you properly. It will take months, maybe years, of constant hard work to become proficient to any degree. Are you prepared to do that?"

"Yes, if it will help to make me better." She said, eagerly. "If I must be different I would rather be different for something I can control and use."

He nodded his head. "Right then, I will expect to see you once every week at a time and place that we will arrange at the end of each meeting. You will be required to study and practice in your own time and, most importantly, do not be seen by anyone. You never know who's watching."

She nodded and then raced back to her mother already dreaming of the skills she could learn.


	5. Chapter 5: Changes

As Selena grew from a child into a young adult she advanced in learning, wit and beauty. She also lacked more and more friends through their arrogance and childhood jealousy. But her greatest and most secret achievement was her advance in magic. By the time she was sixteen she could manipulate the elements to become whatever she wanted with single words. Her understanding of the ancient language grew to such that she could now not only understand and improve upon spells but compose her own.

She was also a competent fighter although she did not like to think of herself like that. She hated their fights, he was taller, stronger and far more skilled than she was but worst of all she hated the times when they sparred with real swords. She hated swords, their shape, their weight and what they were for. It took most of her will power to even practice with them.

But the hardest part of her life was keeping her secret safe, not so much from the residents of Carvahall for they barely ever met, but from her parents and worst of all from her brother.

Garrow knew what she could do to a certain extent, although she never told him about her lessons and was careful to only mumble the words of her spells if he was close. They shared almost everything together but over the years they had grown apart. She had her lessons from her mother and her teacher to occupy her and he, being twenty four, was having to learn a trade of his own and was being urged by his father to marry. As a result of their long days they were forced apart and barely had chance to say hello to each other in between meals or at the end of the day.

Selena's one comfort in her life was her magic. Every week she would make some excuse to get out of the house for a few hours and run off to her teacher.

"Again." He said as she dropped the object for the third time.

"I don't understand how to do it." She complained, annoyed at herself for failing.

"If you can work out how to move fire around the branches of a tree without scorching even a leaf then you can certainly work out how to move this thing from here to there. Again." He commanded.

She took a deep breath and concentrated on moving the thing along the path she had set when a thought struck her. The shape and size of the object and the material it was made from made it nearly impossible to move anyway so if this object couldn't accomplish her task then she would simply change the object into something that could.

She released the magic into the structure and it became a tiny leaf which floated gracefully through the air and onto the target.

"You've got it." He said to her.

"But I cheated."

He bent down and picked up the leaf. "Exactly."

They continued to practice for another hour until the light began to fade. As he gave her a list of things to practice over the week she plucked up her courage and asked, "Master, you said that in time all questions will find their answers but I still haven't found your name. Won't you tell me?"

He looked at her sternly. "No. My name isn't safe around here and will not be until you finish your studies. Stop wasting your time on trivial things like names and devote more time to your studies."

He made to leave and then doubled back on himself. "Oh and, Selena, I'll be going away tomorrow and shan't return for some time. You must continue your studies in my absence. This includes your sword work, I will know if you haven't practiced."

Selena was shocked. "When will you return?" she called.

"When I am told to." He replied as he disappeared into the trees.

She walked back to the house in a gloomy mood and met her brother along the way.

"Selena!" he shouted, running over. She hastily stuffed the notes he had given her into her bag.

"Hello, Garrow." She said, half-heartedly.

"What's wrong, Sel? You should be happy, I have great news."

"What?" She asked, trying hard not to show her true emotions.

He gazed at her with an elated expression. "Selena, I'm in love. I think I know who I'm going to marry."

It took her a moment to take in what he had said. "What? Who?"

"Her name's Marion and she is the most amazing person I have ever met. Except you of course. She has such a large heart and she's witty and confident. And she's new to the town."

Marion. The name did ring a bell. Maybe she had seen her in town some time. She certainly wasn't one of the usual girls, Selena knew every one of them by name.

"That's fantastic, Garrow. When do you plan on having the wedding?"

"Next year if her parents' say yes and I can't see a reason why not. I've started to build a house close to the town, so she can get to know some people."

She smiled and carried on walking. "You're a wonderful person, Garrow. Marion will be lucky to have you."

Dinner that evening was a jolly event for everyone except Selena. She had lost her teacher, lost her magic lessons for now and she had just found out she was losing her brother. For Garrow's sake she tried to make merry but by night fall she felt as though she ought to burst and so excused herself on the pretence of a head ache, which was partly true, and escaped to her room.

She sat upside down on her bed reading the notes he had given her. She decided to put in a little practice before she went to sleep. She emptied her head of all thoughts and concentrated on the spell in front of her.

She released the energy and a small ball of water extracted itself from a basin in the corner and came towards her. When it was hovering a foot or so away from her she incanted the next spell and the water began to spin, whirling in fast circles and glowing with a fierce light.

When the spell was complete there was, suspended in mid-air, a tiny bird no bigger than a blade of grass made out of pure water. Selena smiled at the little bird.

"FLY" she commanded and the little bird opened its tiny wings and began to flap. She looked at the bird flying around her room. It was beautiful, graceful and skilled in flight but it was on its own with no friends and no future. With one command it could go back to being water again. She wanted to set it free, for it to have a life. But how would it if it was on its own?

She looked back at her notes and uttered the two spells again and a second, larger bird was born from the water. This bird would protect it she thought and so she modified her spells to allow the two birds to live in the outside world without taking their energy from her and got up to open the window.

As the two birds flew off into the night she thought about her own future. What was she going to do when her brother had gone? Perhaps she could make another brother from water and they could fly off into the distance together as equals. But no, no one she could create, or find, would be her equal. She was different from everyone else and so she could not find a match like they could.

Or could she? Surely she was not the only sentient being in Alagasia that had unexplainable powers, why she even knew someone who could match her in skill. But he had gone and she had no clue as to his return.

She extinguished the light in her room and then climbed under the covers with tears glistening like jewels in the corners of her eyes.


	6. Chapter 6: Normal

**Here's the next instalment in the life of Selena, hope you enjoy it. Thanks for sticking with it. Please REVIEW!**

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As Garrow and Marian's wedding came closer there were more and more reminders of how her life was changing. It had been six months since he had announced his engagement and six months since Selena's last training session with her teacher.

She was now twenty one years old and was spending an increasing amount of time on her own. She missed him and his none existent patience and she frequently worried about forgetting things he had taught her. Sometimes she wondered if he was even coming back but something told her that he was.

When she could she would sneak around to the back of the shed to practice in peace. It was dark, it was dirty and it was cold and for those reasons no one ever went round there which made it the ideal place to practice.

On one such day where she had found some time to herself, she was sat cross-legged on the grass behind the shed practicing her magic. She was summoning to her an assortment of things using as few words as she could. She had started out small with some dried up leaves that were on the grass around the shed and then progressed to larger and farther away things. She was just starting to get hungry so she concentrated on some fresh bread she had seen this morning and summoned it to her. It took more energy than she thought it would to summon the loaf. As it came around the corner Selena jumped to her feet and let out a small gasp.

No wonder it had taken a lot of energy, still grasping hold of one end was her brother, Garrow, with a scared expression.

"I can explain." Said Selena hastily trying to think of any explanation that didn't include magic.

"You were doing it again? Weren't you?" he accused. "You know you're not supposed to."

His reproachful tone annoyed Selena. "Why? Why am I not supposed to?"

"Because mum and dad don't want you to. They want you to have friends and next year maybe a family and no one is going to like you if you don't start acting normal."

That touched a nerve. "Normal? So I'm not normal? I'm not as good as you, yes?"

"Come on, Selena, you know I didn't mean that."

"No, you were perfectly clear. You want me to start acting like everybody else. Pretending to be like them. Well I won't. They don't like me and I don't like them so why would I even try to fit in with them. I'm happy with the way I am and I'm not going to change for anybody!" she shouted and ran back towards the house.

She ran through the back door, not even stopping when she nearly knocked down her mother, and carried on running until she reached her room where she collapsed onto her bed and sobbed.

She couldn't believe it. Her own brother wanted her to change to be more like everyone else. He didn't like her anymore because she wasn't normal. The other villagers didn't like her because she wasn't normal. Was that why her teacher had left? Because he knew that she was never going to be normal? So he wouldn't come back?

She cried in earnest now.

There was a small tap on her door which she nearly didn't hear because of her sobs but she chose to ignore it anyway. The she heard someone, her mother, open and close the door and sit down on the edge of the bed. She pulled away as her mother tried to place a soothing hand on her shoulder.

Mira sighed and said, "What's wrong, Selena?"

"Me!" She spluttered; she had tried to shout but was short of breath from the crying. The fact that she couldn't even shout properly induced a new wave of grief and she once again succumbed to the tears. Her mother waited patiently on the edge of her bed for her to calm down. When she continued her words were interrupted by lots of gasps and sniffs. "I'm what's wrong. I can't do anything normal. I don't know how to do anything normal. I've always tried not to make people hate me and now I've driven off the only person who ever treated me as if I was normal." More tears spilled onto her cheeks.

Her mother placed her hand on her head and smoothed out her long tangled hair. "Sh, Selena, you could never drive Garrow away from you. He loves you in a way that only a brother can. You can't drive him off, you just took him by surprise."

Of course Selena knew that her brother didn't hate her, the remark had actually been referring to her vanished teacher. However, as her mother knew nothing of this man she held her tongue.

"I'm just upset because I can't have the things that everyone else my age can have."

"Like what?"

She took a breath and sat up a little straighter. "Like friends and visits to other villages. I could almost deal with having no close friends but then I think how I will never marry and will have to live out my life stuck here alone. It gives me chills. I would be happy with any other future, to have friends to stand by me, to have a husband to care for me or even to leave this place and travel the land. That would give me great joy."

"You would really like to leave? Selena are you sure that's what you really want?"

"Yes." She said with conviction. Her voice had stopped shaking and she could now talk without pauses for breaths or sobs. "I would love to travel and visit foreign towns where no one knows my face. I could settle down somewhere and raise a family."

"Oh could you? Selena, think, now you are being unreasonable. You will never be accepted by a man from a foreign town with no dowry, no background and no social standing. And just think, what if he saw something? No man would make an offer to anyone like that."

"_Anyone like that_?!" she shouted. "You think there's something wrong with what I can do too, don't you? Well there isn't. It's not strange and plenty of people can do it. I'm not the only one and it's only here that it seems to be something indecent. I can't wait to leave so I can start living. I've spent ten years believing that I was _wrong_. That I was worse than everybody else. Then I realised it wasn't my fault. There wasn't even a fault there to begin with. I know that there is a place for me somewhere in Alagasia and I'm not going to give in until I find it!"


	7. Chapter 7: New Hope

**Hey guys. Here's chapter 7, hope it's good. Please review.**

**Thanks to the people who have already reviewed. ****Camo8765**** – this is supposed to be set circa 40/50 years before the start of Eragon (at the start of the fanfic) so it should follow on. **** – My high school was really big on uniqueness and I loved it. Selena hates her village so I kind of wanted to make it an anti-high school if you get me, it just makes it a little easier to write when you have something to compare it to.**

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She felt detached from her family. Like they weren't real, just another of her dreams. She had always thought that they accepted her magic and defended her from the other villagers for her sake but she had been wrong. They had hidden her so that they wouldn't have to bear the shame.

She had contemplated leaving several times before but never as seriously as she did now. She found herself with many reasons prompting her to go. She was older now, twenty one years, old enough to take care of herself. She had little left to keep her on the farm, Garrow would be leaving and she was an embarrassment to her parents. She was fully educated and physically fit so finding work shouldn't be hard. So what was keeping her? Why didn't she just leave now? One reason.

Her teacher still hadn't returned to her and, now more than ever, she needed him for guidance. She saw him in a way that she had never seen people before. How did she feel for him? It wasn't hate, defiantly not, she knew that feeling well. So was it respect? No, she respected her parents, or had, for their knowledge and skills. He had more skills and infinitely more knowledge but that wasn't it. She felt relaxed around him and all warm inside like she had swallowed a cup of tea too fast. But what was that? Insanity? It felt like it.

Could it have been love? She did not know what it was to love in that way. It must have been that. She loved him. And right then she wanted nothing more than to leave her home and be with him.

She carried on walking around the fields until she reached the barn. It was a warm day and she hadn't practiced her magic for a while so she slipped round the back and sat down on the cool earth.

She was just re-reading her notes when a breeze passed by carrying on it a small, folded, piece of parchment. That was odd. Firstly, who around here had the money to buy parchment and where had that breeze come from? It was a clear, calm day with not a cloud in the sky.

_Oh_, she thought, _magic right_. She reached forwards and took the slip of paper from the air. She opened it and read,

_Selena,_

She knew that writing. Her heart skipped as she beheld the elegantly curved glyphs of her teacher's hand.

_I'm coming back now. You should expect me within two days of this letter depending on the weather. I am coming back for the last time and I don't expect to be returning to Carvahall._

This sent a shiver of fear through Selena.

_I would like to meet you at our last training place at noon either tomorrow or the day after (if you go up there on both days I should meet you when I get there). It would be greatly beneficial to you and myself if you would consider this request; that you would leave Carvahall and accompany me to the capital._

_Morzan_

_P.S. Don't worry about the thunder._

Don't worry about the thunder? What thunder? She had never been afraid of the thunder, thunder couldn't hurt you and it usually brought rain that watered the fields. But there wasn't any thunder now, for a start it was the wrong time of year for anything other than the occasional shower. There wouldn't be any real storms for months.

Oh well, she'd ask him what he meant when he got here. She reread the letter two more times and her mood gradually lifted higher and higher until she thought she might burst from the emotions. He wanted her to leave with him. She could get away from here and be with him for ever.

A beautiful scene was forming before her eyes, no more hiding, she would be free. She could use her magic and not be shunned. She could run and dance and laugh and the world would run with her.

She started back to the house with a new spring in her step. As she passed the squash field she saw her parents and her mood plummeted. She couldn't go, they would never let her leave on her own, let alone with some strange man. Of course he wasn't a stranger to Selena, she had trained with him for eleven years and now she even knew his name, but her parents weren't to know that.

Still there had to be a way. Perhaps she could be kidnapped by him. No that wouldn't work, they'd probably send out search parties to find her and they would doubtlessly have horses so they would easily catch up.

Well then, how about if she "ran away"? No that would just bring more embarrassment to her family and even if she could bring herself to do that to her parents she could never do that to Garrow. Even if they had grown apart over these last years, they still had that unbreakable bond that forms from years of love.

So how could she do it? Never mind now, she had to get ready. She would find a way in time and right now she had to get back to the house and plan.

The night seemed to drag on and on for Selena who was forced to sit through the evening meal and help to plan the arrangements for Marian's family who would be coming up in a couple of months' time to stay with them for the wedding. She just wanted to go to bed so that she wouldn't have to count the long hours between then and noon. When she finally managed to get to bed she was asleep before her head touched the mattress.

In her dreams she imagined herself fleeing from Carvahall with Morzan.

_They were running through the forest just south of the shadow pass being chased by a few of the villagers who hated embarrassment more than they hated her. They laughed as they ran, they would never be caught. They had a secret escape route. They could hear the villagers gaining on them but this was of no concern. They sped up, grasping hands, and burst through the trees to emerge on a cliff face. However, they did not slow, instead they sped up and threw themselves off the edge, diving into the air. She could see right over the line of the horizon, could feel the wind whipping her hair about her face. The villagers peered over the cliff and looked down into the abyss searching for the two bodies descending into the mists but none could be seen. A shadow passed over the villagers and they looked up to behold a seemingly laughing red cloud. _

Her eyes snapped open. What a good and strange dream she had had. What could it mean?

Never mind that now, her dreams didn't always mean something and when they did it was rarely what she thought they meant in the first place. Besides, today she had far more important matters resting on her mind.

She dressed in a whirl, donning her favourite dress and pulling her hair back into a loose braid but leaving the front down, nicely framing her face. This done she bounced down the stairs and along the hall to the kitchen door.

_Hold on_, she thought, _I need to make it look like I want to leave, don't I? If I go in there all happy and cheerful and then leave they're going to notice something's not right._

And so she tried to hide her smile with a look of tiredness and resignation which, to her at that point, was something akin to trying to swallow a cooked potato whole; you can do it but it feels very odd and it makes your throat hurt.

She entered the kitchen and bumped into her mother who was on her way out.

"Oh, Selena, I was just about to come and wake you up. Are you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine." She said perplexed. "Why?"

"Why?" laughed her mother. "It's nearly noon, I was about to start cooking lunch. You've been asleep all morning."


	8. Chapter 8: Hiccups and other shocks

**Hey, sorry that took a while ( exams :[ ). Anyway, here's chapter 8, I hope it's good enough.**

**Please review, I read them all and I do listen to what your views are. I'd actually appreciate some criticism or suggestions for what you'd like to see I upcoming chapters 'coz I'm getting a little stuck.**

**Ok, boring stuff over, enjoy :D**

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She left the room and Selena just stood there swaying slightly. _Nearly noon_? It would take her at least half an hour to get there. What should she do?

Grabbing a slice of bread and an apple she flew out of the kitchen through the back door and into the garden. She jumped over the fence and ran through the sparse trees that surrounded the farm. On her way through a dense patch of brambles her foot struck something large and sent her flying through the air and landing on her back. Coughing she tried to stand and a hand helped her up.

"Garrow!" she exclaimed. She had thought he would have been in town by now on his errands. "What are you doing out here?"

"Me?" he said, his eyes darting around the immediate area, as though the answer was hidden somewhere in the trees. "Oh, I'm… well… what are you doing out here?" He said, evasively.

She smiled. "I won't say what I'm doing unless you tell me what you're doing."

"Fair enough." He said. "I'll see you later then."

"Bye." She called as she continued running towards the clearing.

When she reached it she could see no trace of him so she sat down on a rock to catch her breath and make a start on her meagre lunch. She took several bites out of the apple then tore a chunk out of the bread, she hadn't realised how hungry she had been.

As she finished the last crust of bread she took a long look around the clearing. Her breathing had almost returned to normal now and she could smell a hint of blossom on the breeze so she took a deep breath to isolate the scent.

_Hic!_ Oh no. She really wasn't thinking today. She knew that eating too fast would give her hiccups. And being out of breath didn't help either.

_Hic!_ This had better have eased off before he got here. She remembered with dismay the last time she had had hiccups, they had lasted from breakfast till evening. Come to think of it she had had apples and bread for breakfast then too. Maybe there was something about eating that sort of food on an empty stomach.

_Hic!_

She remembered what her mother had told her about hiccups being your body's way of telling you to calm down and so she sat down on the grass with her arms away from her body and worked to control her breathing.

Her hiccups slowly faded back into the depths of her stomach as her meditation wore on and she found herself thinking more clearly about things that had been on her mind. In the midst of her ponderings she began to be distracted by something that was happening in the forest.

The animals and birds were growing restless and the wind had picked up. She opened her eyes and stood up to inspect the area. As she did she became aware of a quiet thudding noise originating from somewhere in the distance, not unlike the sound heard when one takes a rug outside to beat it.

The noise grew gradually louder and Selena began to wonder what it could be. Thunder? But it was the middle of summer. Something wasn't right if they were having a thunder storm at this time of year in beaming sunshine with not a cloud in the sky. Should she head home?

Hang on, thunder. Of course, this must have been what Morzan was talking about in his letter. Still, thunder storms weren't something to be taken lightly. But if he'd told her not to worry about it then she wouldn't worry. She trusted him.

The noise increased but she still wasn't afraid because he had told her not to be. Suddenly she stood bolt upright as she felt something touch her thoughts.

"_I'm coming down now."_

What? _"Down from where?"_

The thuds grew to a pitch that was making her head ring. A shadow crossed over head casting the clearing in shadow. She looked up and recoiled a few steps as she beheld a large red mass easily the size of the grain barn descending from the sky. Could this have something to do with her dream?

As the massive red mass alighted upon the ground the earth shook and Selena said to Morzan, "You're a dragon rider?"

"Yes." He said, dismounting. "And you shouldn't have let me into your thoughts like that. Why weren't your barriers up?"

"So you serve the king?" she asked, too much in awe to answer his question. "Why did you spend so long working with me then? Surely he had better missions for you than training young magicians."

"He did but I managed to convince him that you were worth training. He agreed so long as when I had finished your training I would present you to him."

She gaped at him. "You convinced the king to do you a favour?"

"Yes. I'm his second in command."

"He trusts your opinion so much that he would let you waste your time on a project that would bring him no gain?"

"On the contrary, it will bring him great gain. We will make full use of your skills. You excel in magic, stealth, cunning, you are literate and well-spoken and you have an aura that could convince anyone to trust you. You will be of great use to the king when I take you to him."

She refrained from reminding him that she hadn't actually agreed to go yet as she knew that he wouldn't accept no for an answer and she couldn't deny him anything anyway.

"When do we leave?" she asked.

"The question is not when, but how and why?"

She was puzzled. "I don't understand."

"You can't just pick up and leave, Selena, think about it. You have to have a reason for leaving."

She thought for a moment then said. "I had actually thought about that and I think the best idea would be for you to leave town and then come back again and I can go away with you."

He stared at her. "Now I'm confused. How would that work?"

"It makes sense. See, you come into town on a business trip or something and set out an advert for a servant. Put in a brief description, tall, female, strong, educated, fit it around me but don't be obvious. I'll apply for the post, you'll give me the job. Everyone knows I want to leave Carvahall so they won't suspect it's a ruse to let me leave with you. Then we vanish and are never heard from again."

"That's brilliant. Right, I'll leave tonight. How soon can you be ready for me to come into town? A week? Ok, you'll need to start being obvious that you don't want to stay here."

"Not a problem."

"And you really should start packing now so you are ready, just don't let anyone know."

"I will." She said. "Good luck with your business trip."

He smiled and kissed her on the forehead then turned and walked off to meet his dragon. "Good luck with your job interview!" he shouted over his shoulder.

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**So, what do you think? Please review with any, ANY, suggestions. Thanks x.**


	9. Appologies

Guys, I'm so (ooooooooooooooooo) sorry I've not updated in ages but I've been doing exams and I was banned from FanFiction :O

Anyway, I'm back now and I'm hoping to be updating more. Thanks for sticking with it so far and I should be posting another chapter some time with in the next two weeks. If you have any suggestions for what or who you want to see please review or PM (message) me I love hearing new ideas and it really helps me to write.

P.S. If anyone knows any decent jokes send them to me and I'll add you in as a character ;) I need cheering up badly and it'll probably encourage me to write.


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